Dancing with the Season Six Stars

Tonight, during the finale of Dance War, they announced the new stars for Dancing with the Stars, which premiers one month from tonight. And the potential winners are:

Marlee Matlin – Oscar winning actress – Deaf – I must confess, I had to look her up to see who she was. But as soon as I saw she won the Oscar for Children of a Lesser God, I remembered her winning. Never saw the movie, but at least made a connection. Since so much of dancing is feeling and hearing the beat, she’s going to have a tough time. But after Heather Mills did so well with only one leg, I’m not going to count her out yet.

Penn Jullette – the loud half of comedy duo Penn and Teller (or Rebo and Zooty to Babylon 5 fans) – I can’t picture him being a good dancer because he doesn’t seem to be in good shape and he’s so big. Still, I can’t wait to see his reaction to the judges. I think they’d better watch out if they try to make some bad calls on him.

Marissa Jaret Winokur – Tony Award winning actress – I know we’ve had this issue come up before, but an actress who won an award for work in a musical (in this case, Hairspray)? Seems like she’ll have an unfair advantage going into the competition. Still, she’ll be an early favorite because she’ll already have some of the basics of dancing, if not ballroom dancing, down. And they’ve cast people before with dancing in their background (like Drew Lachey), so it isn’t that far a stretch.

Adam Carolla – comedian – I’m not familiar with Adam’s work, although I have heard of "The Man Show." Frankly, I don’t have much to say about him because I don’t really know anything about him.

Kristi Yamaguchi – Gold medal winning figure skater – Again, I’d say her background will help her, even though I know that skating and dancing are very different sports. I’ll be quite interesting in seeing how she makes the transition.

Cristian de la Fuente – Actor – I was going to say he’d never been in anything I’d seen, but I decided to look him up at imdb.com first. Good thing I did, because it turns out he guest started in an episode of Psych that aired this last summer. Now, if I could only remember which character that was.

Monica Seles – Tennis champion – One of my roommates loves tennis, so I’m sure he’d have an opinion for me. I, on the other hand, don’t know much about her. However, I’ve noticed that the athletes, no matter what their background, seem to start the show strong, so I’m sure she’s someone to watch.

Mario – R&B Singer – Again, his singing gives him an edge because of his familiarity with music. And his hip hop dancing will give him some advantage. Not that he’s a lock. Look at Sabrina from last season.

Steve Guttenberg – Actor – Now here’s someone I have seen more then once or twice. I don’t think I’ll name everything he’s done that I’ve enjoyed, however, because some of it would embarrass me. I enjoyed his character in Veronica Mars, even if he turned out to be a slimeball. I can’t quite picture him as a good dancer, but I will certainly be rooting for him.

Jason Taylor – Football All Star – I never would have thought that football players would make good dancers, but after Jerry Rice and Emmitt Smith got so far, I am excited to see how far Jason will go.

Shannon Elizabeth – Actress – I’m going to guess she’s best known for American Pie, which I have also never seen. Since I’m not familiar with her, I can’t comment on how she will do, so I’ll just have to wait and see.

Priscilla Presley – Actress, ex-wife of Elvis – Here’s an interesting choice. I could see her going far thanks to Elvis’ fans. Or maybe not. I’m not up on my "King" facts, so I don’t know if that will help or her hurt her. But, again, I don’t want to guess how her dancing is until I get to see it.

We’ve got quite a diverse group for season six. If nothing else, it will be interesting to see how everything comes together. I can’t wait to watch it unfold. So I’ll see you back here March 17th for the first episode of season six.

Thoughts? See any early favorites? Someone you will be rooting for? Someone you think will bomb? I’d love to hear what you think of this line up.

I can predict that Adam Carolla will be much more annoying than Penn. Penn may challenge any stupidity that the judges come up with, but Carolla is incapable of saying anything intelligent. Penn is a smarta** while Carolla is a dumba**.

My husband mentioned yesterday evening that Adam Carolla had announced he’d be on DWTS this season. I told him I hoped it was an early April Fool’s joke, but he said no, they had Julianne on the radio show with him that morning, and she was his partner. Needless to say, I can’t stand Carolla, and so I’m hoping he goes quick, or at least behaves himself.

I think Penn Gillette is my favorite celebrity of the season, but don’t see him making it to the end. I hope we do get some sleight of hand. I joked with hubby wondering whether he would make Bruno or Len disappear.

I hope that Marlee Matlin does well, and Kristi Yamaguchi; the rest I just don’t care about, yet.